2/1- 2/6 We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate.... FINISHED!!!

[marcyinPA]

Just back on Sunday from a quick trip. My oldest son was in Disney with his high school band, so my best friend and her daughter joined my youngest son and myself. We upgraded to the regular dining plan from the QS plan, for $200 total, and I'm so glad we did! We were going to let both of the kids pick at sit down meal anyway, so upgrading made perfect sense. This is the fourth time I've used a dining plan, and I've said it before and I will say it again...it is a lot of food!!

Our first day was severely delayed because our flight was canceled out of PHL. We did not make it into POP until close to midnight, so no meals on 2/1.

This review will cover the Pop food court, Pizza Planet, Restaurantasaurus, Sunshine Seasons, Ohana, Wolfgang Puck's Cafe, Kona Cafe, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and the Biergarten.

Wednesday 2/2
Breakfast: Pop food court. CRAZY. CRAZY. CRAZY. We had a lot of touring groups at Pop...very loud touring groups. Getting breakfast was interesting, but fortunately our kids are both 11 and are able to wait in line and order for themselves. I had a Pop waffle with bacon/sausage. It was actually pretty good, because it was fresh off the waffle iron. However, by the time we wove our way around the condiment section and found a place to sit, it was cold. Oh well...it was food, and I was happy to eat.

DS11 had chocolate chip pancakes with bacon/sausage and devoured them
BF (best friend) had french toast and inhaled it
BF's D had the breakfast pizza, which she loved, but she scraped off most of the bacon off the top (not a fan).
We all grabbed a bottled water to take with us.
We ate as fast as we could and got the heck out of there!! On our way to DHS!

 

[marcyinPA]

Continuing...

Wed 2/2 Lunch- Pizza Planet

I couldn't believe my ears..."We're HUN-GRY!!!" I hadn't planned on eating a real lunch that day, but I gave in, and we were right near Pizza Planet. Having eaten here before, I knew what to expect. It's not great pizza, but it is food. The last time I was there, I'm pretty sure the pizza came with a side tossed salad. Now it comes with a side Caesar salad. No biggie...

The group of us had pizzas and salad...one plain, one pepperoni, and 2 veggie pizzas, and four rice krispie treats to go. The pizza was OK...the veggie pizza had some kind of seasoning sprinkled on top, which made it very salty. I could have done without whatever it was....some sort of garlic salt/seasoning?? My friend and I commented that we could have shared one of the pizzas...she and I weren't all that hungry. But, you know, having the dining plan credit and all, we didn't want to end up with extra at the end.

I love that you can get a packaged dessert here that does not need refrigeration. We took our rice krispie treats to go, and my DS and I actually brought ours home with us (they are in the snack drawer as I type!)

Next up: dinner at Ohana!

 

[marcyinPA]

Wed. 2/2 dinner: Ohana

My DS and I have eaten here before, twice. My best friend and her daughter have never eaten here. Her daughter loves meat.....this is the place to eat if you are a carnivore!

We had 7-ish ADR's and were seated promptly. We gave our drink orders (2 cocktails for the moms...a ginger lemonade something or other, and a grape something or other. Neither were that great. )

They bring the bread to your table as they seat you, and the two kids dug in fast! The bread (a pineapple coconut type of thing) was tasty. I didn't want to waste stomach space on bread, so I just took a bite. Then came the salad, which was delicious. I had forgotten what it tasted like, but was very happy to eat green veggies!! Then came the dumplings, the noodles, the broccoli and pea pods, the chicken wings, and all of the meat. The dumplings were just ok. They were kind of tough and chewy (the dough part) and I only at one of them. The noodles were fine...they reminded me of ramen noodles but spiffed up. The wings were great....slightly spicy and sweet too, and sticky messy! Mmmmm!!

The broccoli and pea pods were fresh and good and welcomed....I never seem to eat enough fresh veggies on vacation.

The meat was GREAT. Better than I remembered. The steak was cooked perfectly (pink) and tender. The chicken was not dry, and neither was the pork. All were seasoned well and delicious. The shrimp were messy to eat, but very tasty. They were de-veined, which should dispel some of the rumors I've read on the board lately.

But you need to save room...for that incredible dessert!!! I think we may have sounded x-rated as we ate it.....it was THAT good!!! I have had it before so I knew what I was getting. My friend said it was the best dessert on the trip.

The service was very gracious, albeit a little bit hard to understand at times. We really had to pay attention. The kids did not participate in the games, but my DS did manage to snag himself a lei somehow! I found the woman who does all of the signing and stuff to be incredibly annoying. I'm sure she is a wonderful woman, but her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. The kids were starting to moan every time she talked...so it was really getting to be time to pack it up and go.

But before we left, we were able to enjoy Wishes. They do pipe the music in, but you do have to be lucky enough to get a good seat. We were near a window, but we had trees blocking our view. We could see the high fireworks but not much else. It was OK...we've seen it before. It was a nice way to end the night though!

Ohana was my favorite meal of the trip. YUM YUM YUM!!

Next up: Pop food court- Again.

 

[marcyinPA]

Thursday 2/3- Breakfast

Pop food court again, but this time we opted out of a full breakfast and just grabbed some small stuff. Finding a table (a clean one at that) in this place is nearly impossible. Between the four of us, we ended up with a fruit bowl (grapes, honeydew, cantaloupe), a chocolate croissant, a yogurt parfait, a banana, and a bagel with cream cheese, 3 waters and a gatorade (or was it powerade?)

All pretty standard stuff. Some of the grapes in the fruit cup were mushy and gross, but it's pre-packaged so I expect it not to be perfect.

We ate fast and headed out the door to catch the bus to the Animal Kingdom!

We decided to eat lunch early (before noon) because we had 5-ish ADR's at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe that night. We were on Dinosaur shortly after 11 am, and decided that Restaurantasaurus would be a good stopping point.

We ordered two roasted vegetable subs, which came with sweet potato fries, and two bacon cheeseburgers which came with french fries. The dessert choices were chocolate mousse and cheesecake. We got three mousses and a cheesecake.

The vegetable subs were actually quite good. It was a mix of roasted red peppers, red onion, portabello mushrooms, zuchinni, and had melted cheese on top. Loved the sweet potato fries! Kids loved the burgers. The chocolate mousse was actually very good. They top it with some sort of fudge sauce, which I could have done without, but all in all, it was a very rich and yummy chocolate dessert. The cheesecake had some sort of liquidy watery orange sauce on top, which my friends daughter found repulsive and she would not touch it. Admittedly, it did look kind of gross. It ended up in the garbage. I really wish all QS locations offered a cookie or rice krispy treat as a dessert option...something that you can throw in your bag and take with you to eat later. The other desserts are nice, but not portable, and your only option is to eat it right there. Not always hungry right then for dessert. I'm surprised, really, that Disney hasn't worked this one out for people (unless, really, it is their ploy for people to skip dessert, saving them money, and then people will buy dessert later, making Disney money....hmmmm)

There are probably better places in the AK to get lunch (Flame Tree did sound good, but we were having BBQ the next day), but this place fit the bill. Oh, and they also had a Shrimp Po Boy sandwich that looked pretty good, if I hadn't given into that veggie sub!

Next up: Wolfgang Puck's Cafe

 

[lynn46356]

The vegetable sub along with the sweet potato fries sound really good! I'll need another trip to give them a try! We ended up at Flame Tree BBQ on our Animal Kingdom day which was also good as usual. I believe their key lime dessert also has that green color stuff on top of it. It tasted fine though but I agree looks funny. Having stayed at Pop on our visit last week we were able to avoid the crazy breakfast crowds by getting to the food court at 7 a.m. Timing is everything there I believe. I'm enjoying your reviews as we ate at some of the same places.

 

[marcyinPA]

2/3 dinner Wolfgang Puck's Cafe

The kids wanted one more ride on Everest, so we walked right on and let them go for it. We left the AK, when it dawned on me that we couldn't just go to DTD. We had to transfer. I had wanted to take the bus to POR and get the boat, but my friend thought going to the AKL and catching a DTD bus was a better idea.

I'm not sure whose idea would have been better, but I went with my friend and we were 1/2 hour late for our 5:00 ADR at Wolfgang Pucks.

I apologized to the host for being late, to which I got a snotty look and not even "that's ok...don't worry about it". She said something under her breath to another host but I didn't catch it. As we walked into the place, it was EMPTY. There were maybe two other tables with people, but that was it. I let the snotty host go...but it didn't really seem to matter much that we were late.

Our server was nice and accommodated our picky-ish kids. My friend and I ordered martinis. I forget what she had, but I had a Coco Chanel which was really really good...very smooth.

He brought us a bread basket that had some very nice fresh garlicky bread, which I barely got any of because of the bread vultures (i.e the kids) and some flat bread.

We ordered our entrees. I had the macadamia crusted chicken with garlic mashed. It was good. It didn't totally knock my socks off, but it was tasty. I wouldn't say it was worth $27, but I was on the DP so it didn't matter.

My DS11 had the ravioli with sausage and broccolini, sans broccolini. He loved it. I tasted it and it was good. It had a light cream/tomato sauce and the sausage was just a little spicy. My friend had the same thing, but she had hers with the green stuff. Her daughter had Chicken Penne Alfredo with bacon and peas, sans bacon and peas. She inhaled it before I could even take a taste.

Dessert was just a little disappointing because we were hoping for Creme Brulee, which we had at the Wolfgang Express a couple of years ago. Nothing resembling creme brulee on the menu, so I had chocolate lava cake, which was so rich I could only manage a couple of bites, and my friend had the Key Lime Pie, which she said was good. The kids did not order dessert.

I've decided that I would much rather dine at the Express on QS credits rather than the Cafe with TS credits. I'm glad we tried it, but next time, if there is a next time, I'll try someplace else.

We headed back to the resort...had to get up early for breakfast at Kona Cafe in the morning!

Next up: Kona Cafe and Whispering Canyon Cafe

 

[marcyinPA]

Thursday 2/4 Breakfast - Kona Cafe

We were up early and on the bus by 8 am for our 9 am Kona Cafe reservation. Today would be our day to be in the MK all day long, and I was EXCITED! Today was the day that my DS15 would be marching down Main Street with his HS band. If you were in the park this day, maybe you saw them?!

We arrived at the the MK and then the Poly in plenty of time, and checked in and were seated about 15 minutes prior to our ADR.

I was DYING for a cup of REAL coffee, but I didn't get the pressed pot because my friend doesn't drink coffee. I had just the regular brewed coffee which was fine. My friend and my DS ordered OJ and my friends daughter asked for water. Our server offered her a very large bottle of Evian water as her drink, and we shared it with her.

I ordered the pineapple macadamia nut pancakes with sausage. OMG...these were soo good! They were light and fluffy, and just slightly sweet. I did not need any syrup on these babies....they were good without it. I was not able to put a dent in them...I ate about 1/2 of the stack of three.

My DS and my friends DD ordered 2 eggs with potatoes and meat. They devoured them.

My friend ordered the Tonga Toast with sausage. She loved it. I thought it was OK. The bread was very "bready"...it was not eggy enough for me to be considered French toast. It was sort of like two very thick slices of bread, lightly cooked, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar....it was hard to find the egg part of it.

We finished up, settled the check, and were out of there just about 9:30.

I would eat here again in a heartbeat...the service was very good and the food was yummy!

We got some mid-day snacks in the MK: apple slices, dill pickles, and celery and carrots with ranch dip at the little stand in Liberty Square. We ate these while we waited for the pre-parade. After the band marched, I had a sudden urge for an ice cream cookie sandwich (I guess it was because we were sitting in front of the Main St. Bakery!). I was disappointed to find out that they are no longer on the snack plan. My friend and I shared one...it was HUGE and still as good as I remembered!

Up next: Whispering Canyon Cafe

 

[lynn46356]

We were in the same place at almost the same time last week! We ventured to Captain Cook's for the tonga toast that morning. My family and I were in Disney for our first family trip back to WDW in 10 years in December. I knew they wouldn't appreciate or want to go through the work of getting to the Poly for breakfast so I talked my friend into it on this visit. We both ordered the tonga toast and enjoyed it very much. Would I make the trek to do it again? Probably not but I'm glad I finally got to try what everyone talks about. I've never ate at Kona for breakfast and its still on my list of things to do! Those macadamia pancakes would definitely be my choice! We spent half the day in MK. We wanted to check out the Disney outlet mall location that morning. It wasn't worth it in our opinion either. Oh well. We got to MK by noon and enjoyed the remainder of the day there. I even got a cookie ice cream sandwich too. I know I asked and they said yes it was on the snack plan and I used my dining plan snack credit for it. I swear. I didn't have charging priviliges on my card and I didn't get cash out either. Strange.

 

[Tracerr00]

I'm loving your reports!! They are great to hear because you had eaten at some of the same places that my sister and I plan to eat on our upcoming trip! I'm glad to hear that you liked the pancakes at Kona because I'm excited to try those.

We're staying at WL so I can't wait to hear about Whispering Canyon because I'm sure we'll end up eating here.

 

[marcyinPA]

I'm loving your reports!! They are great to hear because you had eaten at some of the same places that my sister and I plan to eat on our upcoming trip! I'm glad to hear that you liked the pancakes at Kona because I'm excited to try those.

We're staying at WL so I can't wait to hear about Whispering Canyon because I'm sure we'll end up eating here.

Thank you! It's been fun to write them. I only wish I had taken pictures of the food....but I just wanted to eat it!

You will love the Wilderness Lodge. We stayed there two years ago. By far, my favorite resort!

 

[marcyinPA]

Thursday 2/4 dinner- Whispering Canyon Cafe

I will preface this review by saying that I had an earlier ADR at 180 days out but I had to change some things around in order to be in the Magic Kingdom to see my son march. I ended up getting this new ADR but it was for 7:55 pm. This is kind of late for us, but it was my DS11's pick and I was trying to accommodate.

We arrived about ten minutes early, but ended up waiting about a half hour or more to be seated. The kids were getting tired, but they held it together. Lincoln Logs helped some!

Our server was OK...I forget her name, but it wasn't anything clever. She wasn't overly friendly, which was part of the schtick I guess. We didn't get any napkins or straws thrown at us. The antics were relatively mild. She did help my DS11 yell for ketchup...something he had been looking forward to since we made the ADR!

The four of us ordered the skillet. My DS asked for a small side of fries instead of mashed potatoes (he really wanted them for the ketchup!) and they brought him a small skillet full of fries, at no extra charge. The kids each ordered a milkshake (chocolate, and orange) and my friend and I ordered the Sunset Margarita (I think that was the name of it....it is the recommended margarita under the skillet on the menu).

The salad was good, but not as good as Ohana. I found the dressing to be a little heavy on the oil. The corn bread was good...moist and yummy. The meat on the skillet was pretty good. The ribs were tasty...and pretty meaty. The only meat I didn't try was the chicken. My friend and I agreed that the pulled pork was the best of all of them. We also had mashed potatoes, beans, and corn on the cob.

I told the host that it was my friend's birthday (we were celebrating it, but a week early), so our server brought her, and the little boy at the table next to us, a birthday cupcake, and led our section in a round of Happy Birthday (cha cha cha). My friend's daughter was mortified...gotta love those moments when you can embarrass your kids!!

Our server recommended dessert to go, which is what we did. We ordered 2 chocolate cakes, a Smores cheesecake and an apple pie/cobbler whatever it was. Unfortunately, we realized the next day that they did not put the apple dessert in the bag. They did package up my friends birthday cupcake though, so we were all able to eat a dessert for breakfast the next morning.

It took a LONG time to get our check. I must have waited 20 minutes while the kids and my friend hung out in the lobby. Everyone was beat at this point and ready to get back to the hotel room.

This was my third time eating at WCC for dinner, and I think it will be my last for a while. While the food wasn't bad, it wasn't exceptional either. It was just OK. And the service was marginal. I think if I were staying at the WL, I may eat here, or if I've never tried it before, I'd give it a shot. But for myself, I'm done with it. BTDT.

Next up: Sunshine Seasons and Biergarten....and a few snackies and drinkies along the way!

 

[PixieDustandEeyore]

Great reviews so far! Very detailed!

 

[marcyinPA]

Saturday 2/5

Well, we told the kids they could have their desserts from WCC for breakfast, so that's what we did. I tossed the cheesecake because it didn't stay cold, even on ice. My friend, my DS, and myself ate the chocolate cake. I think it was supposed to be Kahula Chocolate Cake, but honestly, I didn't taste any Kahula flavor. It was good cake though, with a rich chocolate ganache on top. I couldn't finish it...neither could the other two! My friends daughter ate the birthday cupcake, which she said was good. She's a total vanilla girl...she hates chocolate, so it was perfect for her.

We finished up and headed for the buses...we were going to Epcot today. The select band and bagpipes from my DS's HS band were marching from the WS through Futureworld and back around again, so I wanted to be sure we didn't miss them.

We decided to eat early at the Sunshine Seasons, since we had 6:35 ADR's at the Biergarten, and since we had nothing but cake for breakfast. We hit Soarin first, then the Living with the Land ride, and then we walked over to see the band march, then back to Soarin to use our FP's and then lunch. It was probably about 11:30 by then.

I always like this place, even before they revamped it. They have a good selection of fresh food. I was REALLY hungry for salad so I ordered the Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese. It came with a piece of flatbread, which I had to ask the cast member for. It was strange, really..the flatbread was right there, but he handed me the salad without it. I asked about it, and he had to ask another CM. He must have been new? Anyway, the salad was really good. The lettuce was dressed with a slightly sweet vinagerette, and it had three nice slices of goat cheese, and three slices each of red beets and yellow beets. It was light and after all of the meat I'd been eating all week, I really needed something like that.

My DS11 ordered the chicken caesar salad, which he loved. It came with a lot of garlic roasted chicken on it and was very fresh. It did not come with any bread...they considered the croutons the bread.

My friend ordered Cashew Chicken with white rice and steamed broccoli. I tried the chicken and it was very tasty. Her daughter loved it and raved about it!

My friends daughter ordered the kids pizza panini, which she liked very much. She got a side of grapes and baby carrots with her meal.

My DS and I got dessert to go in a bag...one brownie and one white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. They would later get smooshed in the bottom of my backpack and thrown out.

My friend was able to swap her dessert for a bag of chips, which are of the Disney brand variety. I think she got cheese curls, and she said she liked them better than the brand name. Had I known it was possible to swap out, I would have done the same thing. I was really sick of dessert by our last day in Disney and was craving something crunchy and salty.

I still really enjoy this place....there is plenty of seating and plenty of food choices.

Next up: a couple of snacks and drinks!

 

[marcyinPA]

Saturday 2/5

After lunch, we continued on and did Mission Space and Test Track, and doubled back to do Spaceship Earth and Club Cool, and Captian EO.

We made our way to the WS when the skies opened up and it started to pour. The closest attraction to where we were was Canada. I love this movie....

Came out and it stopped raining for a bit. Time for a drink! Headed to France, for my long awaited Grey Goose Slush. My friend got a Grand Marnier Slush. I have to say that of all the alcoholic mixed drinks we got on this trip, these were the only ones that tasted like the contained alcohol! We LOVED them. They were worth the $9 a piece!

Of course, drinking them gave us the munchies as we made our way through the countries. We headed into the dept. store in Japan, where we picked up some snacks. We got a bag of the rice snack mix to share and that really hit the spot. The kids wanted something too, so they ended up with a funnel cake in America. I have to say, that funnel cake was good! We get funnel cake up here in PA a lot, as it is pretty "PA Dutchie", but this one was comparable and bigger than most we get at fairs around here.

It was getting to be close to 5 pm when we got to Germany. Our ADR wasn't until 6pm-ish. Everyone was still hungry and ready for a break, so I decided to see if they could take us early. Sure enough, we were seated within five minutes. We shared a table right in front of the stage, with another family of four. They were nice, but not chatty, which was really fine with us. It had been several years since I'd eaten at the Biergarten (probably about 13 years) so I forgot about the food. It was wonderful. My friend and I both ordered a small Oktoberfest beer...in a nice frosty mug! Mmmm! The kids helped themselves, which was great. My son loved the "wursts" and the sauerkraut! My friends daughter ate carbs...pretzel bread, spaetzel, potato dumplings, mac and cheese.

Everything I tried was good, with the exception of the potato dumpling. Yuck. Tasted like a boiled ball of dough. I had a few of the salads (the sausage salad was actually surprisingly good!), the pretzel bread, the chicken schnitzel, one each of the three wursts with kraut, spaetzel, red cabbage, sauerbraten, and the macaroni and cheese. I don't know what it was about that mac and cheese, but it was SO good. Maybe it's because I never really eat that kind? The noodles were a bit soft, but the cheese sauce was really cheesy and there was so much of it!

For dessert, I had the apple strudel with the vanilla sauce, and a piece of the Bavarian cheesecake. The strudel was good, although a bit doughy, but the Bavarian cheesecake was really light and I enjoyed it!!

The show was fun. We sat through 1 1/2 shows, as they were just finishing one when we were seated. The kids really enjoyed this place, and so did I. I would go here again for sure!

Last review: Sunday 2/6...Pop food court for breakfast AGAIN...and home.

 

[marcyinPA]

Sunday 2/6...Breakfast and last meal in WDW

We had to check out today....called bell services to pick up our luggage because my friends suitcase busted a wheel and she was not pulling that thing anywhere any more! Made it through the airline check in without any issues and headed to the food court at Pop for breakfast.

My DS and I had the Bounty Platter. It came with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, a biscuit and two french toast sticks. It was cold by the time I sat to eat it....not the best food, but it was food. The eggs were really dry...I like dry eggs...but they were too dry for me. I remember getting this type of platter on our last trip, but I don't remember the french toast sticks. I think those are new to the platter. I wouldn't go out of my way to get this breakfast, but if you are eating in the food court, your options are not that great.

My friend had an omelet with potatoes. She ate it, but didn't comment on it. I don't think it was anything worth commenting on.

Her DD had another breakfast pizza...this kid loves her pizza, regardless of type! We all got bottled water to keep us hydrated while we waiting for the ME pick up.

We still had three snack credits to use, so we got two rice krispie treats and a bag of sour gummy candy to go home.


Conclusion: We really did have a great experience with the DDP. The food, for the most part, was very good. We used every single one of our credits. I didn't eat a burger or a hot dog the entire trip. I did have pizza once, but I wanted it. There are plenty of options for healthy food if you know where to look.

I came back heavier...not sure how much heavier, but the pants were fitting just a little tighter. It is a lot of food. I NEVER eat like that at home. Two desserts a day? NEVER. But it's vacation, and now that I'm home and back to normal eating, the pants are fitting well again!


Oh, and my DS15 ate with his band friends (we didn't spend any time with them....). They had lunch one day at Via Napoli....11 of them...they just walked in at noon and were seated. They ordered three of the Mezza whatever pizzas (HUGE pizzas he said). He said it was the best pizza he's ever had!
The rest of his meals were ice cream related. Seriously, I unpacked his bag the next day since he had to go to school, and I collected the receipts he stuff in his bag. probably 10 of 15 of them were for some sort of ice cream! Kids!

Thanks for reading....if you have any questions, just ask!